Dealing With Credit Issues

Dealing With Credit Issues

Improving an individual's credit score is not rocket science. It involves following a few simple rules and being patient. A credit score will not improve over night - it improves over time as the individual demonstrates their credit worthiness by reducing their debt, paying their bills on time, and demonstrating good borrowing habits. To improve a credit score an individual should:

  • Pay all of their bills on time.
  • Keep the balances on their credit cards low. A "maxed out" credit card hurts an individual's credit score.
  • Pay off debt rather than simply moving the debt between credit cards. Moving debt around does not reduce an individual's debt load.
  • Only apply for new credit cards and loans when they are needed. This means passing up all of the "great offers" received in the mail.
  • Check their credit report annually for accuracy and contact the creditors and credit reporting agencies to correct any errors that they find.